Sharon Strauss is a Professor of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis.  Dr. Strauss studies how species evolve as a consequence of community membership  – their complex interactions with co-occurring species. She studies plant communities, but also works with insect herbivores and pollinators of plants.Most recently, Dr.Strauss has focused on the role of evolutionary history in community assembly of plants, and in explaining plant-herbivore ecology and evolution.In concert with this, she has examined how invasive species evolve post-invasion in new habitats and the impacts of invasives on the ecology and evolution of co-occurring native species.Dr.

Strauss is the Principal Investigator on the Responding to Rapid Environmental Change IGERT, an NSF-funded graduate training program that fosters collaboration and multidisciplinary solutions to environmental problems. Dr. Strauss is a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow (2002), has received the Mercer Award from Ecological Society of America (2009), and is a fellow to the California Academy of Sciences (2009). She holds a doctorate from Florida State University (1988).